Team Czechia loses one of their top NHL players days before Olympics.

One of the top countries that will be competing for Olympic gold during the Men's Hockey Tournament at the Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy has just suffered a terrible blow.

Although there has been no official confirmation at this time, numerous reports out of Czechia are now indicating that Boston Bruins forward Pavel Zacha has been forced to pull out of the tournament due to injury related reasons.

Zacha has been out of the Bruins lineup since the 29th of January when he suffered something a mysterious injury during a clash against the Philadelphia Flyers. Zacha played just a little over 10 minutes in that game and was glued to the bench for much of the second period before eventually leaving the game for good. It now appears as though Zacha will not recover in time to represent his country at the Olympics, a devastating blow for the 28 year old forward. It is especially sad when you consider that Zacha has had relatively few chances to represent his country on the international stage.

There has been no official confirmation in regards to who will step in for Zacha, but it sounds like 28 year old forward Filip Chlapik is the favorite for that spot at the moment. Chlapik does have 57 games of NHL experience but is years removed from his time as an NHL player, having spent the last 6 seasons playing overseas. His most recent experience comes in the Czech league where he has spent the last 3 seasons as a member of Sparta Praha.

A terrible loss for the Czech side and for Zacha himself as well.

Update: NHL insider Chris Johnston is confirming the unfortunate news.